


A Mask Is a Mask (Unless It's a Person)

by shnuffeluv



Series: Masks [1]
Category: Bull (TV 2016), NCIS
Genre: Dissociative Identity Disorder, Gen, Happy Ending, Interrogation, Mistaken Identity, Multiple Personalities, Multiplicity/Plurality, One Shot, Secrets, Technically Speaking, Tony DiNozzo is Jason Bull
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-01
Updated: 2018-08-01
Packaged: 2019-06-20 07:08:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15528888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shnuffeluv/pseuds/shnuffeluv
Summary: When Jason Bull comes under scrutiny by NCIS, the whole team gets a rude shock when who they think is Tony, turns out to be someone they never really knew.





	A Mask Is a Mask (Unless It's a Person)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Red_Pink_Dots](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Red_Pink_Dots/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Artwork Prompts Challenge](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14914700) by [Red_Pink_Dots](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Red_Pink_Dots/pseuds/Red_Pink_Dots). 



> This one's for Red_Pink_Dots, for making the artwork that inspired this crazy idea. Also, forgive the picture for not being centered, I can't seem to get the HTML to cooperate. Enjoy?

When McGee skidded to a stop in the bullpen, Gibbs knew something was wrong. McGee had that wide-eyed, fish out of water look that he had when he was a probie, and he was shaking far too hard to be remotely okay. Bishop looked over as well as Nick, and Gibbs just stood. "McGee? What's going on?"

McGee just silently shook his head. "You're going to want to see this for yourself."

Gibbs silently followed him to the observation room off of interrogation, where Sloane was currently standing, frowning in consternation. He didn't register  _why_  until an all-too-familiar voice met his ears. "Are you people going to keep me locked in here all day?" it asked. "I have a schedule to keep!"

And there, glaring at the security camera, standing close to the mirror, was Tony. "McGee, what's going on?" Gibbs asked. "Why is Tony in there?"

McGee swallowed. "Well, I...I served the warrant to arrest Jason Bull, and...and everyone directed me to...to him. And he seemed to know who I was, but not what I was doing, or why I was doing it, and he seemed...angry, that I was even there."

Gibbs took the folder for the case from McGee's hands and said, "I'll be handling this one, you just watch."

He walked into interrogation, gesturing to the seat facing the mirror. "Have a seat."

To his mild surprise, Tony sat down. "Why am I here, Agent Gibbs?" he asked.

"To be interrogated, thought that was obvious," Gibbs said with a shrug.

Tony worked his jaw. "What am I  _being charged with_?"

"Oh. Murder in the first," Gibbs said, dropping his folder on the table. "You know all about this, don't you, Tony?"

Tony twitched. "My name is Jason. Not Tony. I already told Agent McGee that."

"Yeah?" Gibbs asked, laughing. "I'm sure you did. That's probably why he called me in here, Tony."

"My name is Jason! Tony is dead, Agent Gibbs!" he snapped.

Gibbs crossed his arms and sat down. "How, pray tell, is Tony 'dead'?"

"You know how death works, Agent Gibbs. You're surrounded by it every day."

"Tony--" Gibbs warned.

"I'm! Not! Tony!" Jason bellowed. "Get that through your thick skull! Tony hasn't been in control for two years! Leaving me to clean up his mess!"

There was a pregnant silence. "In control?" Gibbs asked.

Jason nodded stiffly. The door opened and Sloane walked in. "I would apologize for the interruption, Gibbs, but we all know how you feel about that," she said, closing the door behind her. "I do apologize to you, Jason. It took me entirely too long to realize what was going on."

"Jack--" Gibbs started.

Sloane ignored him. "How long have you been here, Jason? Just waiting for Tony to come back?"

"I just said. Two years," Jason fumed. "Do you have any idea what it was like, to wake up one day in Paris, with a screaming toddler crying for her dead mother and her father is nowhere to be found?"

"That must have been hard," Sloane said, nodding. "I can't imagine what it must have been like. You protected Tony, I'm assuming?"

"All my life," Jason grit out. "And then he up and leaves! First time he did it, I managed to find him but he'd still refuse to front. After a while he wouldn't even show up when I went looking. At this point I'm convinced he's gone dormant. Do I  _look_  like someone who's equipped to handle day-to-day life as law enforcement?!"

"Hey!" Gibbs exclaimed. "Will someone tell me what's going on?!"

"Gibbs," Sloane said. "Jason has Dissociative Identity Disorder."

"What?" Gibbs asked. "Is that...the split personality thing?"

"It's  _not_  split personality," Jason grit. "That makes me sound like a psychopath. I'm a protector. Despite what mass media believes, there is a difference."

Gibbs looked between Sloane and Jason, still not understanding.

"Look, Agent Gibbs," Jason said, sighing. "Tony is-- _was_  the host...for a while. He handled day-to-day life, with pretty much no actual bad memories of his childhood, which despite what he'd commonly have people believe, was not all sunshine and rainbows. Whenever he got in mortal danger, I'd be there to keep him from doing something stupid."

Gibbs tilted his chin up. "So like...shoot-outs?"

"That's how I know who you people are," Jason said. "Didn't get to talk much or explain who I was because, well...we were getting shot at, or blown up, or any number of other things that could and did kill people."

Gibbs stood, pacing the length of interrogation. "So where's Tony? Why can't I talk to him?"

"Because not even I know where Tony exists, if he does anymore," Jason said. "It's like he was never here to begin with. So I changed our name, letting only our father know, because he still doesn't know about this. I got a job doing what  _I_  wanted to do to help people, and every night I go home to a daughter who isn't mine to watch movies I don't like in the hopes that Tony will show his face again and I don't have to worry about becoming the permanent host."

"But after two years...what are the chances of that?" Sloane asked sympathetically.

"Right," Jason said hollowly. "I've been working on enjoying what I do, controlling my temper, trying to pass for a normal human being rather than just a protector with anger issues."

"Has to be hard," Sloane said. "Do you by any chance have an alibi for the night of the twenty-ninth?"

Jason sighed. "No. That's the night I let Lila out to go see her girlfriend."

"Girlfriend have a name?" Gibbs asked.

"Um...Antonia. Antonia Sanders," Jason said. "She knows about the whole Dissociative Identity...thing. Just ask about Lila or Jason, she knows about us both."

Gibbs nodded. "Phone number?"

Jason rattled it off and Gibbs nodded, standing. "Agent Gibbs," Jason said, causing Gibbs to pause. "I didn't get to know you very well, but you took good care of Tony while he was here. I just want to say...thank you."

"Least I could do for an agent like Tony...Jason," Gibbs said, closing the door to interrogation behind him as he went to check that alibi. He sincerely hoped Ton--Jason wasn't guilty of this. He'd hate to see his old friend in prison.

McGee was standing in the hallway when Gibbs walked out. "Boss, is this for real?" he asked doubtfully.

"Sloane seems to think so," Gibbs said. "And she's the expert in this area."

McGee frowned and blinked, and Gibbs noticed the tears in his eyes. "So...my best friend is really gone?" he asked.

Gibbs sighed. "McGee, I can't play therapist for you. You want to talk to Jason, he's in there, and you're welcome to have at it. We need to check his alibi."

McGee nodded, swallowing. "I...I had no idea Tony dealt with that. I...do you think...why didn't he ever tell us?"

Gibbs shrugged. "I don't know, McGee. And I wish I did," he said.

* * *

McGee walked into interrogation, where Jack and Ton...Jason were still talking. "Hey," he said softly by way of greeting.

"Agent McGee," Jason said stiffly.

"I'm...uh...sorry. About the car ride over here. I didn't realize Tony was...well, not there, I guess. And I thought he was just...mad that I had found you? Him? Um," McGee was floundering.

Jason took pity on him. "Look, it's fine, Tim. What do you want to know?"

"Well, in addition to Tony and yourself...who else is...there?" McGee asked, glancing to Sloane for confirmation that he was asking the right question.

"There were seven of us. With Tony dormant we're down to six. Myself, Lucas, Idris, Amelia, Lila, and Timothy."

McGee blinked. "Tim?" he asked.

"Don't let him catch you calling him that. He hates it when his name gets shortened," Jason laughed. "He's precocious, and perpetually six years old."

McGee laughed. "Sounds a lot like me when I was six," he said with a slight grin.

Jason chuckled. "You're not bad, Agent McGee. A little misinformed, sometimes, but not bad," he said.

"Thanks, I think," McGee said, sitting down. "I know you probably don't want to talk about Tony, but..."

Jason sighed. "Of course. You have some questions about him. Any good friend of his would."

"Is he really just...gone? There's no way to talk to him, or get him to come out, or whatever?" McGee asked.

Jason sighed. "Honestly, you might have better luck than I have, but if not, well...yeah. He's gone."

McGee took in a shaky breath. "That was...not the answer I was hoping for," he said.

"I can tell," Jason said, smirking. "You're pretty easy to read. I don't know if it's years of Tony knowing you or what, but you look like an open book to me."

"Okay, then. What am I thinking now?" McGee challenged.

Jason looked him up and down. "You're thinking there's no way I can guess whatever you decide to think about, because you didn't come to a decision on what to focus on."

McGee blinked. Then he laughed. Jason shared a chuckle of his own. Jack glanced between the two of them and said, "Should I leave you alone to catch up?"

"I mean, if you don't have anything else you want to ask?" McGee said.

Jack shook her head. "No, no. I'm good. You two play catch-up."

She left and McGee turned his focus back to Jason, who was staring at a spot behind McGee on the wall. "I remember the last time I saw you, before today," he mumbled. "Kort had killed Ziva. Tony was a wreck. I had to stand in and make sure that Tony didn't do anything he'd regret."

"That must have been hard," McGee said. "I know that Tony was always in love with Ziva."

"Interested, yes. I'm not so sure about in love," Jason mused. "He would have raised a family with her but he saw her more as a...partner, or an equal. Not in a romantic sense, but in the sort of platonic bond married couples sometimes get after years of being married to each other, where they don't have to have romantic displays to show how important each one is to the other. I know that he told her about me, before he left her in Israel."

"How'd she take it?" McGee asked.

"About as well as could be expected, which wasn't very. It wasn't bad, per se, but it definitely wasn't good..." Jason said, trailing off. He blinked once, twice, and frowned. "Wait, where am I?"

"Interrogation," McGee said with a frown.

"No, no, I got that. But I was in Paris? How did I get here?"

McGee felt his heart leap into overdrive. "Tony?" he asked.

Tony looked over at him. "Well, yeah, Tim. Who else would I be?"

McGee laughed, unable to help himself. "Well, legally speaking, Jason, apparently."

Tony's eyes widened. "You know?" he asked.

"Jason explained," McGee said. "We sort of forced his hand, bringing him in as a suspect of murder."

Tony groaned. "He didn't  _actually_  kill anyone, did he?"

"No, I don't think so," McGee assured, before grinning. "You're back."

"You have a beard!" Tony exclaimed. "Since when did that happen?!"

"You've missed a lot over the last two years, Tony," McGee said. "I can help you catch up on it, maybe over dinner?"

"Yeah," Tony said, before his eyes widened. "Oh, no. Where's Tali?!"

"Jason made arrangements for her to be picked up before we brought you in from New York," McGee said. "You should probably talk to him, by the way. He seemed to miss you."

Tony snorted. "I bet he did," he said, with a hint of bitterness in his tone.

"No, he really did," McGee said. "He seemed really sincere."

McGee's phone buzzed with a text, and he pulled it out. "And according to Bishop, Jason's alibi cleared. So would you like to go to the bullpen and say hi to everyone?"

"Oh, sure, why not?" Tony asked. "Could be fun trying to explain this to everyone."

McGee laughed. "You're on your own with that, Tony. I only know names."

"So wait...did Jason say anything about Timothy?" Tony asked.

"A little," McGee confirmed.

"Did he say that the kid looks up to you, and tried to make himself look like how he imagined you'd look like at six?" Tony asked.

"No, but that's adorable!" McGee exclaimed. "Do you think I could meet him?"

"Sometime, sure," Tony agreed. "Now that I'm in control again sometimes I'll be making calls and hopefully visits, so you'll probably get that chance."

McGee stood and Tony followed him, walking out to the bullpen. "Tony's back!" McGee exclaimed.

Gibbs smiled and Bishop turned with a grin to greet Tony, while Nick just hung back and watched the scene unfold. McGee didn't know what exactly this would mean for their little team's family, but hopefully, it would mean Tony would be worked back in, someway, somehow. And maybe Jason and the others could join for the first time.

He hoped that was the case.


End file.
